Why Smart and Integrated?
We spend most of our time at home, where we are more in-control, than elsewhere, of all aspects affecting the indoor environment and therefore are free to act upon our preferences and priorities: maintain our home, open/close windows and blinds, adjust set points in thermostats, turn lights on/off, wear most comfortable clothing, cook, bath, operate stove range fan and bathroom fans, do laundry, clean, clutter, have pets, have indoor hobbies, etc. All these activities affect our indoor environment and the life of our home, as well as our utility bill, which in turn have an impact on our well-being, comfort, and health. How can our our homes be sensitive enough to take care of themselves, help us take care of them, and let us know when we are misusing them?
As population keeps growing, there are and will be more residential buildings than any other type of construction. Paradoxically, residential buildings in general are the least technologically advanced of all types of constructions (e.g. industrial, power, airports, hospitals, schools, offices, etc.). This is not surprising since being our shelter, housing has to be affordable. However, advanced technologies are also getting cheaper and more accessible to all.
Research Projects:
- Fenestration optimization for thermal comfort & low-energy performance
- Multi-unit residential buildings (MURBS) – Simulation of whole ventilation systems
- Multi-unit residential buildings (MURBS) – Simulation of suite-level ventilation
- Remote sensing & monitoring integral to homes
- Smart ventilation systems
- Smart Thermostats & responsive indoor climate systems
References:
- Moore J. et al. (2018). Managing In-home Environments through Sensing, Annotating, and Visualizing Air Quality Data, Journal Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies archive, Volume 2 Issue 3, September 2018, Article No. 128, ACM New York, NY, USA
- Schieweck A, Uhde E, and Salthammer T, Salthammer L, Morawaska L, Mazaheri M, and Kumar P (2018). Smart homes and the control of indoor air quality, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 94, pp. 705-718.
- Mora R. (2014) Poster – Systems view, Indoor Air 2014, Hong Kong.